MODERATE REBELS – Beyond Hidden Words

MODERATE REBELS – Beyond Hidden Words

Marvellously and hauntingly, a song that does virtually nothing; an “unsung” as they describe it. ‘They’ being the mysterious “anti-music collective” Moderate Rebels, who among other things released a jolly good album last year called ‘The Sound Of Security’, preceded by a gig where they played a single song (‘God Sent Us’) for the entire 26 minute duration of their set.

Now comes this hypnotic gem ‘Beyond Hidden Words’, which sounds New York and Berlin and black jeans and fading bohemian hotels; or a low-lit corner, lurking somewhere in London where the New Wave meets the Neu Wave. Or not….possibly.

“We’re not sure what this music is exactly,” they say. “It arrived with us as a feeling, then a defiant chant, a repeating half hallucination set to building noise, an invocation of strong communal power and hope, through the confronting of the uncomfortable, and the taking of some personal responsibility for being part of that conversation… The sound of a dream, set to the dream of a sound.”

A second album is being mooted for November. In the meantime they’ve got a gig at the Tooting Tram & Social on August 11. No idea how many songs they’re thinking of playing though.